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The number of women and their offspring who were exposed to diethylstilbesterol (DES) during pregnancy between the 1940s and 1970s in the UK is unknown because there was no central system for recording which medicines were prescribed for individuals at that time and individual paper medical records from this period are unlikely to be retrievable. It is therefore only possible to estimate the number of women exposed. However, DES was not routinely prescribed in the UK.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) uses the findings of a survey conducted by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) which was published in 1974 and this suggested around 7,500 women in the UK were treated with DES during pregnancy in the interval 1940-1971, mostly during the 1950s.

The Scottish Government has no plan to commission an independent review of records retention and data gaps that affect the identification of people exposed to the pregnancy medication, stilbestrol (DES). This is because there was no central system for recording which medicines were prescribed for individuals available at that time and individual paper medical records from this period are unlikely to be retrievable which would make any such exercise extremely challenging.

Thrombectomy services are run on a regional basis with a North, East and West of Scotland ‘hub’ providing thrombectomies in NHS Boards.

NHS Lothian (East of Scotland): Monday to Sunday 8am to 8pm for patients arriving directly at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm for patients arriving at East of Scotland spoke hospitals.

NHS Tayside (North of Scotland): Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (West of Scotland): Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm for patients arriving directly at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm for patients arriving at West of Scotland spoke hospitals.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on staffing levels and future workforce plans: operational decisions are for individual colleges to determine.

Colleges are responsible for making workforce-related decisions in line with legislative requirements, the Code of Good Governance for Scotland’s Colleges and the Scottish Funding Council’s Financial Memoranda. Such decisions may be necessary to respond to the changing needs of the local economy and industry skills demands, as well as ensuring the institution is financially sustainable.

The Scottish Government expects any workforce restructuring decisions to be informed by Fair Work principles, following meaningful engagement with staff and trade unions.

The Scottish Government has established the sunbed safety group to review the existing sunbed regulations and procedures for enforcing those regulations.

As part of the group's work, the Scottish Government has worked with Young Scot, NHS Inform and education colleagues to produce information in an accessible format for younger adults. This includes a sunbed safety toolkit for pupil support teachers to discuss sun-safety with their students and published a new NHS inform page to promote awareness of sunbed and tanning safety which includes information about seeking medical advice for changes to your skin.

The latest ONS data for Scotland indicates that there were approximately 47,900 new online job adverts posted in July 2025, down 1.1% over the year from July 2024. The data also indicate that the number of new online job vacancies posted in Scotland in July 2025 were 32.5% lower than in July 2021, when online job adverts were at their highest July level following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scotland’s labour market is resilient, despite economic challenges. The number of payrolled employees in Scotland remains relatively high with 2.45 million payrolled employees in July 2025 while unemployment remains low.

However, sectors like Construction continue to face recruitment difficulties. Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) data for Scotland indicated that 31.0% of Construction sector businesses experienced recruitment difficulties in July, compared to 22.4% of all businesses in Scotland. These challenges will be exacerbated by the ongoing damage of Brexit. The changes introduced in the UK Government’s Immigration White Paper completely fail to meet Scotland’s economic and demographic needs, and the UK Government must work urgently with the Scottish Government to ensure that the immigration system works for our businesses, public services, and communities.

The economic impact of beavers have been the subject of various reports to date with a focus on impacts on farmers in Tayside. This includes a collation of impacts on land use in the Tayside Beaver Study Group final report 2015 and a Commissioned Report 805: Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study carried out by SRUC (2015).

These reports point to most of the negative impacts occurring in intensively farmed lowland areas, with the costs being variable from a few hundred pounds to £10,000.

The Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study sought to establish a method for assessing the costs and benefits associated with beaver presence. Questionnaire responses from 111 land managers collated costs incurred to farmland and crops.

The study also collated modest figures for economic benefits largely around eco-tourism and found the non-use values may be considerable. They concluded ‘Taking these estimates in aggregate, the benefits of beaver tolerance are likely to outweigh the costs incurred, which can themselves be lowered by appropriate management and mitigation measures’.

Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework.

In 2016, Scottish Government legislation came into force that increased the maximum sentence for weapons possession from four years to five years. The average length of custodial sentence for weapons possession in 2022-23 was 332 days; this compares with 218 days in 2007-08 and represents an increase of 52%.

Under the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations, it is the responsibility of those applying to translocate/release wildlife to consult with a) farmers, and b) landowners, on these proposals.

NatureScot’s guidance for beaver translocations recommends as a minimum this should include ‘All land managers likely to be impacted and their representative bodies - National Farmers Union for Scotland and Scottish Land and Estates’.

NatureScot would expect to see evidence of the nature and findings of this engagement submitted with an application. In their role as licensing Authority, NatureScot have carried out further engagement with neighbouring farmers and land managers in a few cases where concerns had been raised. This has allowed them to better understand the likely scale and nature of impacts and how they may be mitigated and has informed their decision making.

Through the Beaver Management Framework introduced when beavers were granted European Protected Status in 2019, NatureScot can provide licences to prevent serious damage to agriculture and NatureScot provide free advice and operate a mitigation scheme that can support a range of interventions primarily designed to support living with beavers in the landscape. However, there is no compensation available to land managers for costs incurred due to beaver activity.